Rapid increase in mobile subscribers base and emergence of high bandwidth applications, such as Multimedia Online Gaming (MMOG), mobile TV, web 2.0, High Definition (HD) video streaming, and live meeting, have resulted in large scale increase of mobile data usage. To meet such requirements of the mobile subscribers, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is working on the standardization and development of Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, also referred to as 4G. One of the requirements of LTE is to provide unbroken connections between base stations, also called Evolved Node Bs or eNodeBs or eNBs, and User Equipment (UEs).
In the LTE network, the eNodeB may serve one or more cells and each of these cells is assigned a unique cell ID, referred to as a physical cell identifier (PCI). The PCI is used to identify the cell and the eNodeB to which the cell is associated. As per 3GPP standard, there can be maximum 168 Cell Group Id (NID1) and 3 Cell Id (NID2) per Cell Group Id possible in the LTE network. This leads to maximum 504 number of PCI (cells) in the network. In a self-optimizing network (SON), for automatic allocation of a PCI to a cell of a newly installed eNodeB, the new eNodeB may collect information from a neighbouring eNodeB to select the PCI for allocation.